Analysis of Published Criteria for Clinically Inactive Disease in a Large Juvenile Dermatomyositis Cohort Shows That Skin Disease Is Underestimated

The Pediatric Rheumatology International Trials Organisation (PRINTO) recently published criteria for classification of patients with juvenile dermatomyositis (DM) as having clinically inactive disease. The criteria require that at least 3 of 4 conditions be met, i.e., creatine kinase level ≤150 units/liter, Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale score ≥48, Manual Muscle Testing in 8 muscles score ≥78, and physician's global assessment of overall disease activity (PGA) ≤0.2. The present study was undertaken to test these criteria in a UK cohort of patients with juvenile DM

Comparison of the Utility and Validity of Three Scoring Tools to Measure Skin Involvement in Patients With Juvenile Dermatomyositis

OBJECTIVE: To compare the abbreviated Cutaneous Assessment Tool (CAT), Disease Activity Score (DAS), and Myositis Intention to Treat Activity Index (MITAX) and correlate them with the physician's 10-cm skin visual analog scale (VAS) in order to define which tool best assesses skin disease in patients with juvenile dermatomyositis. METHODS: A total of 71 patients recruited to the UK Juvenile Dermatomyositis Cohort and Biomarker Study were included and assessed for skin disease using the CAT, DAS, MITAX, and skin VAS. The Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale (CMAS), manual muscle testing of 8 groups (MMT8), muscle enzymes, inflammatory markers, and physician's global VAS were recorded. Relationships were evaluated using Spearman's correlations and predictors with linear regression. Interrater reliability was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients. RESULTS: All 3 tools showed correlation with the physician's global VAS and skin VAS, with DAS skin showing the strongest correlation with skin VAS. DAS skin and CAT activity were inversely correlated with CMAS and MMT8, but these correlations were moderate. No correlations were found between the skin tools and inflammatory markers or muscle enzymes. DAS skin and CAT were the quickest to complete (mean ± SD 0.68 ± 0.1 minutes and 0.63 ± 0.1 minutes, respectively). CONCLUSION: The 3 skin tools were quick and easy to use. The DAS skin correlated best with the skin VAS. The addition of CAT in a bivariate model containing the physician's global VAS was a statistically significant estimator of skin VAS score. We propose that there is scope for a new skin tool to be devised and tested, which takes into account the strengths of the 3 existing tools

Efficacy and Safety of Cyclophosphamide Treatment in Severe Juvenile Dermatomyositis Shown by Marginal Structural Modeling

OBJECTIVE: In patients with severe or refractory juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM), second-line treatments may be required. Cyclophosphamide (CYC) is used to treat some connective tissue diseases, but evidence of efficacy in JDM is limited. This study aimed to describe clinical improvement in JDM patients treated with CYC and model efficacy of CYC compared to patients not treated with CYC. METHODS: Clinical data on skin, global and muscle disease were analyzed from patients recruited to the Juvenile Dermatomyositis Cohort and Biomarker Study. Clinical improvement following CYC treatment was described using unadjusted analysis. Marginal structural models (MSMs) were used to model treatment efficacy and adjust for confounding by indication. RESULTS: Compared to CYC start, there were reductions at 6, 12 and 24 months in skin disease (p=1.3×10-10 ), global disease (p=2.4×10-8 ), and muscle disease (p=8.0×10-10 ) for n=56 patients treated with CYC in unadjusted analysis. Limited evidence suggested reduction in glucocorticoid dose (p=0.047) in patients treated with CYC. MSM analysis showed reduced global disease and skin disease in patients who started CYC treatment over 12 months ago compared to patients never or not yet treated with CYC. In these patients, modified disease activity score for skin disease was 1.19 units lower (p=0.0085) and physician's global assessment was 0.66 units lower (p=0.027). Minor adverse events were reported in 3 patients within 1 year of stopping CYC. CONCLUSION: CYC is efficacious with no short-term side-effects seen in this study. Improvements in skin, global and muscle disease were observed. Further studies are required to evaluate longer-term side-effects. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Anti-HMGCR Autoantibodies in Juvenile Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies Identify a Rare but Clinically Important Subset of Patients

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to establish the prevalence and clinical associations of anti-HMG-CoA-reductase (anti-HMGCR) in a large UK cohort with juvenile myositis. METHODS: There were 381 patients investigated for anti-HMGCR using ELISA. RESULTS: Anti-HMGCR autoantibodies were detected in 4 patients (1%). These children had no or minimal rash and significant muscle disease. Muscle biopsies were considered distinctive, with widespread variation in fiber size, necrotic fibers, and chronic inflammatory cell infiltrates; all had prolonged elevation of creatine kinase and all ultimately received biologic therapies. CONCLUSION: Anti-HMGCR in UK children with myositis are associated with severe disease that is poorly responsive to standard treatment

Identification and prediction of novel classes of long-term disease trajectories for patients with juvenile dermatomyositis using growth mixture models

OBJECTIVES: Uncertainty around clinical heterogeneity and outcomes for patients with JDM represents a major burden of disease and a challenge for clinical management. We sought to identify novel classes of patients having similar temporal patterns in disease activity and relate them to baseline clinical features. METHODS: Data were obtained for n = 519 patients, including baseline demographic and clinical features, baseline and follow-up records of physician's global assessment of disease (PGA), and skin disease activity (modified DAS). Growth mixture models (GMMs) were fitted to identify classes of patients with similar trajectories of these variables. Baseline predictors of class membership were identified using Lasso regression. RESULTS: GMM analysis of PGA identified two classes of patients. Patients in class 1 (89%) tended to improve, while patients in class 2 (11%) had more persistent disease. Lasso regression identified abnormal respiration, lipodystrophy and time since diagnosis as baseline predictors of class 2 membership, with estimated odds ratios, controlling for the other two variables, of 1.91 for presence of abnormal respiration, 1.92 for lipodystrophy and 1.32 for time since diagnosis. GMM analysis of modified DAS identified three classes of patients. Patients in classes 1 (16%) and 2 (12%) had higher levels of modified DAS at diagnosis that improved or remained high, respectively. Patients in class 3 (72%) began with lower DAS levels that improved more quickly. Higher proportions of patients in PGA class 2 were in DAS class 2 (19%, compared with 16 and 10%). CONCLUSION: GMM analysis identified novel JDM phenotypes based on longitudinal PGA and modified DAS

Anti‐cN‐1A autoantibodies are absent in juvenile dermatomyositis

Objectives: To assess anti‐cytosolic 5′‐nucleotidase 1A (cN‐1A/NTC51A) autoantibodies in children with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) and healthy controls, using three different methods of antibody detection, as well as verification of the results in an independent cohort. / Methods: Anti‐cN‐1A reactivity was assessed in 34 Dutch JDM patients and 20 healthy juvenile controls by a commercially available full‐length cN‐1A ELISA, a synthetic peptide ELISA and by immunoblotting using a lysate from cN‐1A expressing HEK‐293 cells. Sera from JDM patients with active disease and in remission were analysed. An independent British cohort of 110 JDM patients and 43 healthy juvenile controls was assessed by an in‐house full‐length cN‐1A ELISA. / Results: Anti‐cN‐1A reactivity was not present in JDM patients’ sera or in healthy controls when tested with the commercially available full‐length cN‐1A ELISA or by immunoblotting, both in active disease and in remission. Also, in the British JDM cohort anti‐cN‐1A reactivity was not detected. Three Dutch JDM patients tested weakly positive for one of the three synthetic cN‐1A peptides measured by ELISA. / Conclusion: JDM patients and young healthy individuals do not show anti‐cN‐1A reactivity as assessed by different antibody detection techniques

Histological heterogeneity in a large clinical cohort of juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathy: analysis by myositis autoantibody and pathological features

AIM: Juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) have been recently reclassified into clinico-serological subgroups. Myopathological correlates of the subgroups are incompletely understood. METHODS: We studied muscle biopsies from 101 children with clinically and serologically-defined juvenile IIM from the UK JDM Cohort and Biomarker Study by applying the international JDM score tool, myopathological review, and C5b-9 complement analysis. RESULTS: Autoantibody data were available for 90/101 cases with 18/90 cases positive for anti-TIF1γ, 15/90 anti-NXP2, 11/90 anti-MDA5, 5/90 anti-Mi2, and 6/90 anti-PmScl. JDM biopsy severity scores were consistently low in the anti-MDA5 group, high in the anti-Mi2 group, and widely distributed in the other groups. Biopsies were classified histologically as perifascicular atrophy (22/101), macrophage-rich necrosis (6/101), scattered necrosis (2/101), clustered necrosis (2/101), inflammatory fibre invasion (2/101), chronic myopathic change (1/101), diffuse endomysial macrophage infiltrates (40/101), and minimal change (24/101). MDA5 cases segregated with the minimal change group and showed no capillary C5b-9-deposition. The Mi2 group displayed high severity scores and a tendency towards sarcolemmal complement deposition. NXP2 and TIF1γ groups showed a variety of pathologies with a high proportion of diffuse endomysial macrophage infiltrates and a high proportion of capillary C5b-9 deposition. CONCLUSION: We have shown that juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies have a spectrum of histopathological phenotypes and show distinct complement attack complex deposition patterns. Both correlate in some cases with the serological subtypes. Most cases do not show typical histological features associated with dermatomyositis (e.g. perifascicular atrophy). In contrast, more than half show relatively mild histopathological changes. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Muscle biopsy in combination with myositis-specific autoantibodies aids prediction of outcomes in juvenile dermatomyositis

OBJECTIVE: Juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) is a rare and severe autoimmune condition characterized by rash and proximal muscle weakness. While some patients respond to standard treatment, others do not. We investigated whether histopathology and myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSA) have prognostic significance. // METHODS: Muscle biopsy samples (n=101) from the UK JDM Cohort and Biomarker Study were stained, analyzed and scored. Autoantibodies were measured (n=90) and longitudinal clinical data were collected (median follow-up 4.9 years). Long-term treatment status was modelled using generalized estimating equations. // RESULTS: Muscle biopsy scores differed according to MSA. When effects of MSA were accounted for, increased severity of muscle pathology predicted increased risk of remaining on treatment over time: 1.48-fold higher odds (1.12-1.96, p=0.0058) for the global pathology score (hVAS) and 1.10-fold higher odds (1.01-1.21, p=0.038) for the total biopsy score for the standardized score tool. A protective effect was identified in patients with anti-Mi2 autoantibodies, who had 7.06-fold lower odds (1.41-35.36, p=0.018) of remaining on treatment, despite displaying more severe muscle pathology at biopsy. For patients with anti-NXP-2, anti-TIF1γ autoantibodies or no-detectable autoantibody, increased severity of muscle pathology alone could predict the risk of remaining on treatment, without adjustment for MSA: 1.61-fold higher odds (1.16-2.22, p=0.0040) for hVAS and 1.13-fold higher odds (1.03-1.24, p=0.013) for total biopsy score. // CONCLUSION: Muscle pathology, in combination with MSA, predicts the risk of remaining on treatment in JDM and may be useful for discussing probable treatment length with parents and patients. Understanding these associations may identify patients at greater risk of severe disease

Validation of a score tool for measurement of histological severity in juvenile dermatomyositis and association with clinical severity of disease.

OBJECTIVES: To study muscle biopsy tissue from patients with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) in order to test the reliability of a score tool designed to quantify the severity of histological abnormalities when applied to biceps humeri in addition to quadriceps femoris. Additionally, to evaluate whether elements of the tool correlate with clinical measures of disease severity. METHODS: 55 patients with JDM with muscle biopsy tissue and clinical data available were included. Biopsy samples (33 quadriceps, 22 biceps) were prepared and stained using standardised protocols. A Latin square design was used by the International Juvenile Dermatomyositis Biopsy Consensus Group to score cases using our previously published score tool. Reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and scorer agreement (α) by assessing variation in scorers' ratings. Scores from the most reliable tool items correlated with clinical measures of disease activity at the time of biopsy. RESULTS: Inter- and intraobserver agreement was good or high for many tool items, including overall assessment of severity using a Visual Analogue Scale. The tool functioned equally well on biceps and quadriceps samples. A modified tool using the most reliable score items showed good correlation with measures of disease activity. CONCLUSIONS: The JDM biopsy score tool has high inter- and intraobserver agreement and can be used on both biceps and quadriceps muscle tissue. Importantly, the modified tool correlates well with clinical measures of disease activity. We propose that standardised assessment of muscle biopsy tissue should be considered in diagnostic investigation and clinical trials in JDM

Retrospective analysis of infliximab and adalimumab treatment in a large cohort of juvenile dermatomyositis patients

BACKGROUND: Anti-TNF treatment may be useful for the treatment of patients with refractory juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). The aim of this study was to describe the use of infliximab and adalimumab therapy in juvenile dermatomyositis as an adjunctive treatment. METHODS: Sixty children recruited to the UK JDM Cohort and Biomarker Study that had received at least 3 months of anti-TNF treatment (infliximab or adalimumab) were studied. Childhood Myositis Assessment Scale (CMAS), Manual Muscle Testing (MMT8) and physician's global assessment (PGA) were recorded. Skin disease was assessed using the modified skin disease activity score (DAS). Data were analysed using Friedman's test for repeated measures analysis of variance. RESULTS: Compared to baseline, there were improvements at 6 and 12 months in skin disease (χ2(2) = 15.52, p = 0.00043), global disease (χ2(2) = 8.14, p = 0.017) and muscle disease (CMAS χ2(2) = 17.02, p = 0.0002 and MMT χ2(2) = 10.56, p = 0.005) in infliximab patients. For patients who switched from infliximab to adalimumab, there was improvement in global disease activity (χ2(2) = 6.73, p = 0.03), and trends towards improvement in CMAS, MMT8 and modified DAS. The median initial prednisolone dose was 6 [0-10] mg, and final was 2.5 [0-7.5] mg (p < 0.0001). Fifty-four per cent of patients had a reduction in the number and/or size of calcinosis lesions. Twenty-five per cent switched their anti-TNF treatment from infliximab to adalimumab. 66.7%of the switches were to improve disease control, 26.7% due to adverse events and 6.6% due to patient preference. A total of 13.9 adverse reactions occurred in 100 patient-years, of which 5.7 were considered serious. CONCLUSION: Reductions in muscle and skin disease, including calcinosis, were seen following treatment with infliximab and adalimumab